ESA's next generation #Sun explorer, launched on 9/10 February 2020 to study #TheSunUpClose ☀️ #WeAreAllSolarOrbiters
Space!
Joined October 2012
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💫🎉 Behind every successful ESA space mission, there is a woman. Behind Solar Orbiter, there are more than a hundred of them!
Yesterday, we celebrated our 5th launch anniversary - Join us today in celebrating these women who make our mission a success, on international day of women and girls in science!
#WomenInScience #WomenInSTEM
esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Image…
ALT Collage of women who contributed to the ESA & NASA Solar Orbiter mission
ESA's Solar Orbiter retweeted
☀️ 🛰️@ESASolarOrbiter’s daring trajectory close to the Sun is paying off, giving us the highest-resolution full views of the Sun’s surface to date.
Full story 👉 esa.int/Science_Exploration/…
ESA's Solar Orbiter retweeted
Join the @ESA Science Directorate ! 🌌
We're hiring an Archive Scientist at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) near Madrid, Spain on a 3-year contract to work with the @ESASolarOrbiter, @ESA_Cluster and other Heliophysics data archives.
🔍 If you have a passion for space science, a background in heliophysics, and a desire to work with ESA's missions, this opportunity is for you!
Apply now to be part of groundbreaking space discoveries!
📅 Deadline: 7th October 2024
🌍 Location: Madrid, Spain
🔗 jobs.esa.int/job/Villanueva-…
#SpaceJobs #ESA #DataScience #Astronomy #SpaceCareers #ESAJobs #ESAC
ESA's Solar Orbiter retweeted
There is no smooth sailing with the solar wind 🌊⛵️
@ESASolarOrbiter observations confirm that the solar wind gets gusty at its roots. Its turbulent motion begins very close to the Sun, inside the solar atmosphere known as the corona 👇
youtube.com/watch?v=cfPU3Kqc…
ESA's Solar Orbiter retweeted
How does solar wind reach speeds of almost 2 million km/h?
🌊 The investigative duo @ESASolarOrbiter and @NASASun’s Parker Solar Probe demonstrate that fast wind gets its energy by riding magnetic waves 👉 esa.int/Science_Exploration/…
ALT Infographic showing how magnetic waves power the high-speed solar wind. The Sun (left) is emitting some white lines (centre) towards two spacecraft (right).
ESA's Solar Orbiter retweeted
🏆 It's success for @ESASolarOrbiter in the #ESAGames space diving! 🤿
An hard-fought battle between our Sun explorer and our Venus orbiter, with Solar Orbiter ultimately taking the top spot due to its impressive plunge into the scorching environment of our star ☀️
OK sports fans, the results are in!
Bronze for 🥉 @esa_aeolus, silver to 🥈 Venus Express
But the #ESAGames gold for space diving goes to:
🥇 @ESASolarOrbiter! 👏
We thought Aeolus or Venus Express would win this one. As well as its research into Earth's winds, Aeolus is known for its world-first assisted reentry, taking an expertly guided dive from orbit into the ocean in 2023.
Venus Express had a daring aerobraking campaign in 2014, during which it dipped progressively lower into Venus's atmosphere on its closest approaches to the planet, eventually reaching the lowest point of its orbit at about 130–135 km.
😎 But Solar Orbiter stole the show here, now taking a plunge in the scorching environment of our star, capturing images of the Sun closer than any spacecraft before.
ESA's Solar Orbiter retweeted
Have you voted in the #ESAGames yet?
👉 xitter.cf/esa/status/18152…
Competing in space diving 🤿 is @ESASolarOrbiter
🌞🛰️The spacecraft is aiming for a medal for taking a plunge in the scorching environment of our star, taking images of the Sun from closer than any spacecraft before and being the first to look at its polar regions.
ALT Spacecraft in front of the Sun
The crowd is going wild for the #ESAGames. First up is space diving 🤿
Lane 1 - pioneer of assisted reentry, gone with the wind, Aeolus 🌠
Lane 2 - Solar Orbiter kisses the Sun 🌞
Lane 3 - Venus Express could stand the heat 🥵
Lane 4 - IXV researching reusable reentries ♻️
Who will win? You decide 👇
In the last month, #SolarOrbiter has been on 🐙monster-hunting duty.
💥While hiding from Earth's view, the active sunspot region AR3664 has produced more X-class (the highest category) solar flares, insanely energetic solar particles, and humongous coronal mass ejections👉esa.int/Science_Exploration/…
ALT Timeline of solar flares from active region AR3664, with dates from 9 May to 2 June 2024 indicated along a horizontal arrow at the bottom. Each flare is indicated by a circle (blue for those seen from Earth, red for those seen by Solar Orbiter on the Sun's opposite side) with a number indicating the flare's intensity.
👀Seeing double?👀 No, you’re just seeing
🌞 ESA’s Proba-2 satellite filming the Sun’s front, and
☀️@ESASolarOrbiter filming the Sun’s back
Good thing, too, otherwise we would have missed the largest flare of the current solar cycle (class X12)! 💥
More👉esa.int/Science_Exploration/…
A #SolarOrbiter success story!
A key mission goal was to link the solar wind detected around the spacecraft back to its source regions on the Sun.
A new paper, using data taken during our first close approach to the Sun, confirms that it's possible.
More👉esa.int/Science_Exploration/…
What a blast! 💥
On 21 May #SolarOrbiter witnessed one of the biggest solar outbursts in the last 30 years.
Various instruments detected a MASSIVE solar flare (estimated class X12) accompanied by a big burst of particles coming from the active region visible in the centre of the images shown below.
📷 ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team
#SolarOrbiter is currently watching the backside of the Sun, so the blast it witnessed didn’t affect Earth.
However, it came from the same active region that caused the recent spectacular auroras 🌌
Starting from tomorrow this active region will face Earth again 👀 More auroras to come??
📷 J. Schmidt, taken on 11 May 2024 near Frankfurt, Germany.
ALT Pink and green aurora seen near Frankfurt, Germany, on 11 May 2024, caused by the biggest solar storm to hit Earth in over 20 years.
This morning, the same active region showed its face once more, producing a very large Class X2.9 flare and coronal mass ejection…
...and @MissionSOHO caught it on camera! (Watch the left side of the video)
Be prepared for more solar activity this week!
📹SOHO (ESA & NASA)
ESA's Solar Orbiter retweeted
Delighted to invite you to my first virtual Science Directorate Town Hall!
Independent of career stage or affiliation in the scientific community, join us Tues 28 May 9:30-12:30 CEST to learn, ask questions, share views & ambitions: cosmos.esa.int/web/dsci_town… @esa @esascience
🚨 We are launching the ESA Science Newsletter!
It serves the scientific community and welcomes everyone interested in more programmatic and technical news from the Directorate of Science.
More info & subscription link here 👉 cosmos.esa.int/web/scinews
Present in the Sun’s corona:
🌱moss
🪸spicules
🌋eruptions
☔rain
Curious? 👉 esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Video…
🎥ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team
Look away now if you DON'T want a sneak preview of #SolarEclipse2024 🫣 For those who do, we've got you covered ✅
📷Data from #SolarOrbiter are helping forecast what eager eclipse watchers will see, and it looks like this #SolarEclipse is going to be a stunner.
Find the evolving prediction here👉predsci.com/corona/apr2024ec…
ALT Solar eclipse
The prediction comes from @predsci. Researchers there use data from telescopes on and around Earth to create a 3D model of the Sun's outer atmosphere. This allows them to predict how it will look during every #SolarEclipse.
(📸= their final prediction for the Dec 2021 eclipse)
ALT Solar eclipse
For the first time, @predsci are including data from #SolarOrbiter’s Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) instrument. This contributes information on the Sun’s magnetic field from a unique vantage. The result? A better prediction of the eclipse! ☀️
📷 PHI. Credit: The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
ALT Person in a cleanroom suit inspects a scientific instrument on a table
Today marks #SolarOrbiter's closest approach to the Sun, giving it a front-row seat during #SolarEclipse2024 🕶️🍿
What's more, this weekend the spacecraft is 90 degrees further round the Sun compared to Earth, meaning it can watch for potentially dangerous eruptions sent in our direction ☀️➡️🌍
Discover more 👉 esa.int/Science_Exploration/…
#TheSunUpClose #WeAreAllSolarOrbiters
ALT Eruption of material emanating from the Sun